Category Archives: DIY

Cardboard Creations – DIY How to Make a Big Blue Mailbox

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My son has been really into Daniel Tiger lately and we recently watched an episode where they send a letter in the mail, then go the post office and learn about how mail is processed and the like.

Since we made personal mailboxes last month I thought it would be fun to make a big mailbox this month.  Now my son can pretend to be a mail carrier and writing letters to each other has gotten to be even more fun.

Supplies Needed: 

  • A big, thick, rectangular cardboard box.  I chose one that was about two and a half feet tall. 
  • 2 smaller thick cardboard boxes
  • A thin cardboard box (like a cereal box)
  • A hot glue gun
  • Paint
  • Foam paint brush
  • Exacto Knife 
  • Ruler
  • Scissors 
  • 2 toilet paper rolls

Steps to Create A Large Cardboard Mailbox

  1. I started by creating the feet of my mailbox.  I took a small thick cardboard box and measured out a square in each corner of the box.  Then I made a slight inward triangle on the side perpendicular to the square I just measured making sure that the triangle line didn’t quite reach the corner.  Make four of these and cut them out.
  2. Next take a long piece of thick cardboard, at least as wide as the wide side of your main rectangular box, and run it along the edge of a counter or table to break apart the ridging of the cardboard so that it will bend to form an arch.  Once it’s flexible enough to bend in a semi arch (it doesn’t need to be perfect at this point, you’ll fix it later) glue the arch to the top of your main box.
     
  3. Now lay the arch part of your box down on a piece of thin cardboard (like a cereal box).  Use your hands to push the cardboard arch around until it forms the curve you want for your mailbox then trace the curve on your cereal box.  (Make sure the printed side of the cereal box is facing your mailbox.)
  4. Remove your mailbox and make another arch about an inch above the arch you just traced. Cut out your traced arch leaving a thick tab at the bottom so you have something to glue to your mailbox.
  5. Now cut small lines in your cereal box from the outer arch to the inner arch.  Space each cut out about an inch.
  6. Bend each of these cuts inward so they form a curve.
  7. Glue the bottom tab of your traced arch to your main rectangular box and bend all your folded pieced into the boxes main arch. This should force the main arch of your mailbox into the shape your formed.  When you have it in place run a line of hot glue along all your tabs and push them into your mailbox securing the side.
  8. Repeat this process for the other side.
  9. Draw a small rectangle on the front of your box where you want the letter shoot to be. Use your Exacto knife to cut out the top three sides of it and press your ruler along the bottom of it when you pull it open so your box will crease in the proper place.
  10. Turn your box over and cut another rectangle in the back with the same process so letters can be retrieved.
  11. Trace a small plate on a piece of thin cardboard and cut it out, then cut strait through the middle of it.  Glue these two pieces to the sides of the open slot at the top of your mailbox to form the shoot.
  12. Take a toilet paper roll and smash is flat, then bend it in a “C’ shape.  Glue one edge of it to the top mail slot to form a handle.
  13. Repeat that process with a second toilet paper roll to create a handle on the bottom mail slot.
  14. Glue the four “feet” of your mailbox to the bottom of your rectangle.
  15. Finish by painting it and you’re ready to go. 

 Thanks for reading!

Have you tried to make a cardboard mailbox?  I would love to see the mailboxes you’ve created or hear about any of your experiences or thoughts to make it better in the comments section.

Cardboard Creations – DIY How to Make a Small Cardboard Mailbox

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When I was young I remember every Valentine’s Day at my school we would create some kind of creative box for everyone to deliver Valentines too.  I’m pretty sure that every single year of elementary school I made the same kind of a box, a mailbox.  I loved it and I thought it was so fun to feel like I was getting letters delivered to my personal mailbox from all my classmates.

I was thinking that my son might also have a blast both writing and sending letters to the different members of our family, but because he’s a toddler I wanted to make our mailboxes out of something a little more durable than strait up paper.

So my cardboard creation for this month is a mailbox.  I built three and then talked to my son about writing and sending letters.  We wrote a letter to his grandma and put it the real mailbox, then we went home and he and I spent the rest of the afternoon writing and sending letters to each other via our cardboard mailboxes.  They were a total hit. 🙂


Supplies Needed For Each Cardboard Mail Box: 

  • 1 Piece of Thick Cardboard (Like From A Packing Box)
  • 2 Pieces of Thin Cardboard (Like From a Cereal Box)
  • Hot Glue (I have Elemer’s Glue pictured above, but don’t waste your time with that, it wasn’t strong enough)
  • Brad
  • String
  • Button
  • Paint

Set Up: 

  1. Start by cutting a smallish rectangle from your thick cardboard the size you want your mail box to be.
  2. Take a piece of thin cardboard (like the front square of a cereal box) and bend it around your thick cardboard creating the main mailbox arch. Line the strait edge of the thin cardboard up against one side of your thick cardboard and leave an inch or so of extra cardboard off the back side.  Once it’s positioned glue it to your thick cardboard piece.
  3. Cut small slits every inch along the extra cardboard that is hanging off your box and fold those pieces inward, creating an arch.
  4. Set your mailbox down on a piece of thin cardboard with the printed side of the cardboard against your mailbox.  Trace around your mailboxes arch and cut out that cardboard leaving an extra inch along the bottom.  Glue that cutout arch over the tabs you just bent down in the steps above and glue the extra tab to the bottom of your mailbox.
  5. Turn your mailbox around to the side that didn’t have excess cardboard hanging off of it and trace that arch on another piece of cardboard (with the printed side of the cardboard facing your mailbox).  Remove your mailbox and make another arch an inch over the arch you just traced, double rainbow style.  Cut out the cardboard leaving an inch or two extra at the bottom so you have something to use to secure it to your mail box.
  6. Cut small lines on the cardboard arch you just cut out going from the outer arch to the inner arch.  Space each cut out an inch or so.  When you’re finished bend in the sections you just cut so it creates a curve.
  7. Cut a thin strip of cardboard long enough to cover the curved part of your mailbox and glue it over the bent strips you just cut.
     
  8. Finish by gluing the bottom tap to the front of your mailbox.
  9. If you want a flag cut one out a piece of cardboard.
  10. Your mailbox structure is all in place at this point.  Now it’s time for the details.
  11. Paint your mailbox and flag.
  12. Cut a small piece of string (our were about three inches long) and glue it inside the front flap of the mailbox right at the top.
  13. Glue a button to the top, middle, front of your mail box.  Now you can close the mailbox by wrapping the string around the button.
  14. Add the flag to the side of your mailbox with a brad and you’re done.  

Enjoy your personal mail delivery service.

Thanks for reading!

Have you tried to make a cardboard mailbox?  I would love to see the mailbox you’ve created or hear about any of your experiences or thoughts to make it better in the comments section.

Cardboard Creations – DIY Easy Rebuildable Ball Run

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One of our favorite places to visit is the Boston Museum of Science.  At the Museum of Science they have an amazing room just for toddlers and in this room they have a huge magnetic wall that has different sized and shaped PVC pipe secured to huge magnets.  There is also a mechanism that sucks up little ping pong balls and drops them down a shoot at the top of the magnetic wall. The children can rearrange the magnetic PVC pipes to create different paths for the balls to drop down.  This is my son’s favorite part of the museum and he could spend hours playing with the ball run.

I started thinking more and more about the different elements of the ball run and decided it wouldn’t be very difficult to recreate a ball run that had moveable pieces for our home.  It was super fast, easy and inexpensive to build and my son has played with it for hours!  Nothing like bringing a little taste of the Museum of Science home with us. 🙂 

Supplies Needed: 

  • Large Piece of Cardboard
  • Lots of Toilet Paper Rolls
  • Paper Towel Rolls
  • Felt Fabric Sheet
  • Velcro 
  • Pom Poms
  • Paint (optional)

Set Up:  

  1. Cut your cardboard to the size you want your ball run to be.  I choose a piece that was about my son’s height and I left a flap of cardboard along the bottom so it would have a little bit better balance.
  2. Cover your cardboard with your felt fabric sheet.
  3. Paint your toilet paper and paper towel rolls.
  4. Add a small square of the hook side of velcro to each cardboard tube.  We found that they worked best when we did once piece at each end, even on the small rolls because they stuck to the felt better.
  5. Finish by sticking your velcroed pieces to the felt and start sending the pom poms down the shoot. 

Additional Ideas: 



  • If you want curved piece cut one of your rolls on a diagonal in the middle and rotate it around so the long parts of the diagonal are next to each other and short parts are next to each other.  I secured it with a two pieces of masking tape, glue would also work great.
  • We played with pom poms, bouncy balls and little toys cars are also fun.
  • If you have older children it would be fun to set up tasks for your children to figure out, such as start the balls in the top right corner and find a way to get them clear over to the bottom left corner, or some other place. 

Thanks for reading!

Have you tried to make a ball run?  I would love to see the ball run you’ve created or hear about any of your experiences or thoughts to make it better in the comments section.

Cardboard Creations – DIY Character Lacing Cards – How to Make Lacing Cards Easily and Inexpesively

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Lacing cards a such a great “quiet time” activity and they are prefect for helping toddlers develop fine motor skills.  I wanted to get some for my son but had a hard time finding them, or at least finding ones that I wanted.  I finally realized that their really isn’t much to a lacing card and decided to make my own.  

I am so happy with how they turned out. They were so easy to make and by making them myself I was able to use characters my son is interested in.  I made a full set and he loves both being able to play with the different character cards… and occasionally, even lacing them. 🙂  

Supplies Needed: 

  • Cardboard Piece (preferably a cardboard shipping box, but cereal boxes and the like will work as well)
  • Colored print out of character or colored page from a coloring book
  • Scissors/Exacto Knife
  • Foam Paint Brush
  • Hole Punch
  • Elmer’s Glue
  • Yarn or String
  • Tape

Steps to Make Character Lacing Cards: 

1) Cut out your character leaving a 3/4 inch boarder around it. 
2) Mix glue with a little bit of water, I used about 1 part water to 2 parts glue, you can also use modge podge for this. 
3) Cover your cardboard piece with your glue/water mixture using your foam brush. 
4) Press your cut out character onto your gluey cardboard and use your foam brush to smooth it down. 
5) Cover the top of your character with another layer of the glue mixture, be sure to get the edges well. 
6) Let it dry. 
7) Once dry cut out the cardboard around your character, I ended up using an Exacto Knife for this. 
8) Punch holes around your character. 
9) Take your piece of yarn/string and a roll a little piece of tape around the end.  Taping around the top part of the string with make it stiffer and easier to use for lacing. 

Have you made this craft?  What was your experience like and do you have an suggestions to make it better?  I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.